Leading the way

Saturday, Jan. 29, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.

Army Lt. Gen. David Fridovich has had a sterling career and is the deputy commander of the nation’s special operations forces, overseeing about 60,000 highly trained troops. But he was on the front page of Thursday’s USA Today for a different reason — his dependency on prescription painkillers.

The general told a frank story of how he got hooked and recovered. It’s a gutsy thing to do given the military’s culture, which doesn’t provide room for displays of weakness. But Fridovich’s journey is an example of the prevalence of the problem.

It started four years ago when he injured his back while working out during a trip between war zones. A soldier for more than three decades, his body has taken a pounding, particularly after making scores of parachute jumps. Emergency room doctors found pinched nerves and shattered vertebrae. Doctors put off surgery and sent him home with the high-level narcotic painkillers Roxicet and OxyContin.

Eager to get back into command, which had its rigors of traveling around the world, Fridovich fought the pain with the narcotics. In one 24-hour period, he took five dozen OxyContin pills. The more pills, he thought, the more relief.

He was hooked.

Fridovich tried to fight it by cutting back the amount he was taking and sought acupuncture for help. It worked for a while, but after he underwent surgery, he was back to more pills to keep up with a new job and broader responsibilities.

Doctors in special operations intervened and told him he had a dependency on narcotics. They had seen an increase in drug dependency and addiction as soldiers were dealing with chronic pain after combat injuries. They were trying to find a way to address the problem.

In Fridovich, they found a test case, and he spent several weeks working with doctors, trainers and counselors to find new ways to deal with the pain. He also went through detoxification, and now takes a less powerful painkiller.

The general’s struggle is far from unique. The Pentagon says 40,000 troops have been diagnosed with substance abuse issues. A report issued Tuesday said up to 35 percent of soldiers assigned to special units for injured or wounded soldiers were addicted or dependent on painkillers. USA Today reported that nurses and caseworkers dealing with wounded troops say 1 in 3 of their patients are abusing painkillers.

With the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the use of prescription painkillers had dramatically increased. From 2001 to 2009, the Army saw the number of painkiller prescriptions increase 86 percent. Hospitalizations and diagnoses for addiction or dependency have also skyrocketed.

Fridovich said he was surprised by how easy it was to get narcotics, and a task force of the Army’s surgeon general last year said doctors were relying too much on prescription painkillers to treat troops.

Given the scope of the problem, Fridovich said he came forward “to lead the way.”

“I was fighting the pain. And I was fighting the injury. And I was fighting the narcotics,” he says. “We have an obligation to the soldiers to look them in the eye and say, ‘I know what you’re going through. You don’t want to be like this for the rest of your life. You don’t have to be.’ ”

The general’s honesty and leadership is laudable. The military is making a push to curb prescription drug abuse within the ranks, and Fridovich’s story should do much to help. Tens of thousands of soldiers are battling addictions and dependencies — they shouldn’t have to do it alone.